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THE MAGAZINE FOR CORPORATE AND LEISURE TRAVELLERS

Let’s TravelISSUE 34 FEBRUARY-MARCH 2015

$9.95 inc GST

Peru’s Inca Trail

Waitomo Underground

CaliforniaWine Country

SilverseaDiscovery

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Destination ➜ Chiang Rai, Thailand

You can’t get much further north in Northern Thailand than Chiang Rai. In fact, the former capital of the Mangrai Dynasty was founded in the mid-13th Century and wasn’t always part

of Thailand. The city on the banks of the Mae Kok River (a tributary of the Mekong) was ruled by Burma for many years and only became a proper part of Siam (Thailand) less than 100 years ago.

Chiang Rai is, unsurprisingly, one of the most ethnically diverse regions of Thailand and is populated by hill tribe people such as the Karen, Akha, Lisu, Meo and Hmong. More recently, Chinese immigrants have also made this idyllic location home.

One of the most famous legends from Chiang Rai is the story of the Emerald Buddha. Currently housed in its namesake temple on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the mysterious idol has only resided in the modern capital for a little more than two centuries, having been set in place in the Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram in 1784.

The legend begins more than 2,000 years ago in ancient India where the exquisite, 760mm tall figurine was fashioned. After a tortuous journey through Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos, it was reputedly hidden away inside the walls of a temple in Chiang Rai until an earthquake revealed its hiding place in 1434. Because it was green and its discoverers were likely overtaken with excitement, the Buddha was declared to be of emerald. It is actually made of the substantially less valuable material…green jasper. Nonetheless, the much revered statue was liberated and continued its divine journey.

Thailand’s Northern StarBy Rod Eime

Chiang Rai has flourished despite the loss of this holy talisman, perhaps a result of having protected it for so long and the monsoonal climate keeps the city and its 70,000 inhabitants warm and the soil fertile. The wider district is home to some 200,000 people, part of the province with more than 1 million.

In town, visitors will want to see Wat Phra Kaew, the former home to the original Emerald Buddha and now the site of a Chinese copy. That may sound a bit cheap, but a skilled Chinese artisan did fashion an (almost) identical replica of the original two millennia old icon and in 1990 it was placed where it is believed the genuine article once stood. If you miss that, then Wat Phra Singh houses another reproduction that will satisfy most inquiries.

If you are one of the many elephant lovers who find their way to Thailand, then Chiang Rai will not disappoint. The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation works with the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort and the Four Seasons Tented Camp to provide an authentic and immersive experience for guests who want a truly up-close-and-personal elephant encounter.

Up Among the Hill TribesSeasoned farang (white) adventurer, Stu Lloyd, heads up country for a rare cultural experience. Colour! You have never seen anything like this in your life. Reds and blues and purples and oranges and greens: a spectral riot, a jubilee, dazzling in the hazy highland sun.

We are in Doi Laan (doi being the northern Thai word for mountain) to attend an annual cultural festival of the Lisu hill tribe people, at the invitation of the Lisu.

Once out-of-bounds to foreigners, the Lisu have cautiously relaxed these restrictions and now ‘farangs’ may be invited to attend.

The Lisu originated somewhere near Tibet and most are domiciled in Yunnan, although a few filtered down to Burma and Thailand over the centuries.

Rod E

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Vanessa G

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Vanessa G

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John Borthw

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”This festival is a good chance for the whole Lisu in Thailand to meet, a once-yearly meeting point, they choose this month because of the school holiday so all the students can join the festival,” the charming university worker tells me.

Somewhere between 500 and 750 (plus about five farang guests including us) have descended on this otherwise sparse village amid dramatic mountains, valleys and lakes about an hour southwest of Chiang Rai. Every spare bit of floor of Doi Laan’s homes, shacks and mud huts is occupied by guests. You can tell the ones who’ve come back from the ‘big smoke’ of Chiang Mai…they’re the ones sporting dyed Korean-style hair-dos and cellphones. The centrepiece of imparting Lisu history is song with dancing going all night for three or more nights, but this is no Full Moon Rave. To the untrained eye (mine) it looks like Ring-a-ring-a-Rosie.

“It is the way to respect the holy tree,” explains Mimi over the rather discordant rasp of the fulu bamboo flutes. But before you go wading into the mosh-pit with abandon, it pays to know the strict rules of the game.

“Any man can hold the woman’s hand unless she is the man’s relative or cousin or the same last name. It is forbidden to hold the relative’s hand…it is taboo. If it is necessary then women or men must have something like a handkerchief to block the hand so that their hands will not directly touch each other. During the dance, only men can ask women to hold their hand or to join the dance. Except if that woman is a bit drunk or wanted to make a joke to some men,” laughs Mimi with her trademark glowing smile. Indeed, corn whisky has a lot to answer for. It is served up in liberal lashings. Not too dissimilar to the worst Scotch you ever tasted, but with a burnt earthy aftertaste.

Flushed cheeks radiate in the late afternoon sun. Mimi ushers us into her parents’ house (which doubles as the village clinic), where we sit on tiny wooden stools raised just inches above the dirt floor. The meal is stunning, a mixture of spicy vegetable and meat dishes, all courtesy of the jungle.

“We don’t go to market for anything except sometimes meat,” declares Mimi proudly. Chickens tiptoe gingerly through the house. Pot-bellied pigs bask in the sunny pen outside. She is momentarily distracted by a call on her mobile phone. The only other modern intrusion here seems to be Crocs-style shoes. I spy several fluorescent pairs competing for visual attention with the rest of the blinding outfits. Jing jing! (Yes, it’s true!) But no garment is richer than the hats called U-thue, garnished with a thousand or more red strings and beads. Imagine Liberace in a Foreign Legionnaire’s cap and you get the idea.

“It is more like fashion now with all the colour; in the past we use the knitting wool. The strings hanging down are to please the spirit, and the spirit likes to see the colour. It is springtime for the Lisu so the spirit would love it and be happy to see spring as well.”

It is a real privilege to experience this cultural life from the inside as we have. But just one marketing suggestion if I may: add some snappy break beats to the raspy music and package this festival as a…wait for it…Fulu Moon Party!

facts:Elephants: ➜ www.helpingelephants.org

Stay: Anantara Golden Triangle ➜ goldentriangle.anantara.com

Find more activities and adventures in Chiang Rai at ➜

www.thailand.net.au

John Borthw

ick ©S

tu Lloyd ©

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Destination ➜ Malaysia

I dare not move. My head rests reassuringly against the leather restraint while, out of the corner of my eye, I can see the blade being sharpened to a samurai keenness. Then, with a deftness reserved for practiced

executioners, the lethal instrument is applied to my throat and drawn upward in a slick motion that removes only the offending follicles.

But Aras, my expert swordsman, is no Sweeney Todd. There’s no blood…no serenades to homicide. This is an entirely urbane experience and I’m revelling in it.

“I learned my craft in Iran,” confides Aras with textbook-perfect English, “then I worked in London before coming out to Asia - and here I am.”

The Truefitt & Hill salon under the spa in the newly restored and re-opened Majestic Hotel is just a part of the total renaissance experience offered at this delightfully retro hotel. Butlers, barbers, barmen and chauffeurs make up the complement of staff at your beck-and-call when staying in one of the 47 classic colonial-style suites in the ‘Majestic Wing’.

But the reborn hotel is not just about nostalgia and pre-war throwbacks to empire. It’s a clever mix of old and new, with 300 modern rooms in a totally new-build section, The Tower Wing, which looms above the august whitewashed walls of the original structure that first opened its doors on the 15th of August 1932.

Supervising the renovation of the old building was a labour of love for architect Zaidan Tahir, a graduate of Texas Tech University, who was tasked by YTL Hotels to bring it back to its former glory. Tahir has worked with YTL on other restoration projects in the Cameron Highlands and Malacca. Coincidently, Tahir had fond memories of this iconic landmark from his college days when it housed the National Art Gallery.

Something MajesticWords and images by Rod Eime

“I enjoyed walking around appreciating the small details of the building, its style and architecture,” he said, “we wanted to maintain the look and feel of the place, at the same time, give it a new life.”

The hybrid neo-classical/art deco Majestic has been through several incarnations in its 80 years, not all of them happy.

In its heyday, during the 1930s, the hotel catered to European guests and local well-to-do with traditions like the ‘Tea Dance’ and ‘Dinner Dance’. Even the rooftop garden had a dance floor with seating for 350 guests. Modern inclusions such as hot and cold water, showers and full sanitation were firsts for the fledgling Malayan hospitality industry.

But like so much of SE Asia, World War II changed everything. The grand hotels like Hong Kong’s Peninsula and Singapore’s Raffles were all commandeered by the Japanese conquerors as military headquarters. So too The Majestic and it housed the Imperial Army until war’s end. Room 48 is said to be haunted by the ghost of a Japanese officer who committed ritual suicide upon learning of Japan’s surrender.

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In 1945, The Majestic resumed duties as a lavish hotel, but struggled to reclaim its place as KL’s pinnacle of style and grandeur. But perhaps it was the fact that the rooftop bar was used by the founders of UMNO to plan their independence from Great Britain that assisted its preservation. By 1957, when the newly independent Malaysia came into being, The Majestic was past its prime and falling into disrepair. In 1977, it was almost lost for all time when a 22-storey high rise was planned for the site but, to their eternal credit, the government stepped in and acquired the building in 1983, fixing it with a preservation order.

But by New Year 1983, the last melancholy guests were checking out and The Majestic became the National Art Gallery until 1998. For the next ten years, YTL Hotels negotiated with the government and eventually received approval to redevelop it under strict observance to heritage conditions. A new art gallery was built and The Majestic began its return to glory, reopening in December 2012.

A justifiably proud Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, MD of the YTL corporation, said at the reopening “It is a great honour to have been given the responsibility of restoring this national heritage to its former glory. We have painstakingly revived the exquisite neoclassical features in the Majestic Wing, the pièce de résistance of the hotel. Our efforts have since earned the new Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur a coveted listing in The Leading Hotels of the World, the only hotel in Malaysia to have such an illustrious distinction and putting it in the company of hotels such as The Ritz in London and Le Bristol in Paris.”

Today the Majestic Wing is a marvellous tribute to the decadent ‘30s lifestyle and the jazz era. A talented jazz band entertains in the lobby, their swinging tunes entertaining guests all the way from the Tea Lounge, past the bar and into the Colonial Café, where sumptuous high teas are served.

Near the original, hilltop entrance is the Majestic Spa, beneath which Aras and his gentleman’s sanctuary reside. In The Bar, you’ll find Johnny, a true barman’s barman. He knows every cocktail ever devised and can match you to one of his titillating concoctions in a blink. Mine is a whiskey sour, “classic and reliable”, Johnny tells me and I’m not about to correct him. Gentlemen may partake in cigars while playing billiards and sipping fine single malts. The only concession to contemporary values being they may now do so in the company of ladies.

Before I turn in for the night, I put my shoes out for a polish, hang a shirt to be pressed and send my breakfast order down to Lynn, the impeccably stylish assistant manager, who supervises all aspects of the Majestic Wing. I could have my butler run a bath or turn my quilt should I desire it, but I’m content with a wake-up call and English breakfast in my adjoining parlour before tackling the rigours of KL’s retail domain. And that reminds me…I’ll need a chauffeur for that.

facts:

Reservations for The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur can be made on the site at www.majestickl.com or P: + 603 2785 8000The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. See www.lhw.com Discover endless fun at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach

Resort & Spa.

Located just steps from the beach and minutes from the Disneyland Resort® and other area attractions, this resort is your vacation destination. Perfect for the whole family, enjoy our pools & waterslides, surf lessons, shopping, dining, live entertainment, a world-class spa and more.

For reservations, visit huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com or call 714 698 1234. Hyatt. You’re More Than Welcome.

HYATT REGENCY HUNTINGTON BEACH RESORT & SPA21500 Pacifi c Coast HighwayHuntington Beach, CA 92648

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Destination ➜ Antarctica

See Ice at AltitudeImages and story by Rod Eime

There’s history and grandeur aplenty way above Antarctica. Roderick Eime, takes to the wing for a rare perspective of the southernmost continent.

“The panorama was magnificent – the jagged mountains of black and green rock and glittering snow slopes of Trinity (peninsula) towering besides, above us the clear sky, below us blue-black water and icebergs – everything frozen and still, black and blue-black and black-green and glittering white”…Captain Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888 – 1958)

These words could have been uttered by any modern airborne explorer of the Antarctic, flying low over the frozen wilderness of the great southern land.

For decades now, explorers and scientists have been flying to Antarctica on resupply missions, remote field studies and even aerial mapping. Any reader could be forgiven for thinking these observations came from one of these recent flights aboard a turboprop C-130 Hercules or 747, but no. In 1928, an almost forgotten Adelaide-born explorer and aviator, Sir Hubert Wilkins, made these remarks as he and pilot Ben Eielson created history. They were the first to successfully deploy an aircraft in Antarctica, narrowly pipping the glory-seeking US Admiral Richard Byrd, and made numerous important discoveries including determining that Graham Land (the Antarctic Peninsula) was not an island, but attached to the vast southern continent.

Sure, visitors to Deception Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula can visit the site of Wilkins’s runway where these history-making flights took place and try to imagine the raw conditions under which then state-of-the-art explorations were taking place. Today, modern adventure seekers can now get aboard a specially chartered Qantas 747 and gaze longingly down on these same icy wastes laid out before them.

Millionaire publisher, Randolph Hearst, paid Wilkins $25,000 for the story – more than $330,000 in today’s money. For as little as AU$1,200, you can experience something similar, flying aboard a giant Boeing 747 chartered especially for the purpose by Melbourne travel entrepreneur, Phil Asker. You’ll enjoy many luxuries only dreamed of by pioneering aviators like pressurised cabins, meal service, flushing toilets and a myriad safety and state-of-the-art navigational aids.

Rod E

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Rod E

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Phil and the Captain’s Choice team operate a specially formed business unit for these trips called, predictably enough, Antarctica Flights. Since 1994, and beginning with just one experimental charter, the concept has taken off like wildfire with five departures now offered, one each from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. The Sydney New Year’s Eve departure, complete with jazz band, is certainly the pick of the pack. Melbourne has the privilege this year.

In the early days of aerial exploration, these risky expeditions were fraught with all manner of dangers. Now, with modern satellite navigation, radar and jet-powered aircraft, the most dangerous thing you will do is take a taxi to the airport. Despite several well-publicised events, air travel is still among the safest forms of transport anywhere – significantly less hazardous than crossing the road or riding a bicycle.

Our journey began, not in some windswept hut on a foreboding, snow encrusted shore, but in the Qantas Club lounge toasting our imminent adventure over the frozen continent, the planet’s coldest and driest landscape bar none.

The 12-hour, 10,000km return journey spends a generous three to four hours over the Ross Sea region, an area seldom visited by tourists of any sort, air or seaborne. The first glimpses of this frozen land are heralded by increasingly dense formations of ice. Starting with solitary icebergs slowly migrating north toward oblivion, these are followed by motley fleets of floating ice. Some ‘vessels’ just large enough to transport a few penguins while others deserve their own postcode.

Our first much anticipated sighting of land consists of a few scattered peaks of raw and hostile rock jutting through a dense low cloud cover indicating the Admiralty, Transantarctic and Queen Maud Mountains which form a high barrier to the west of the giant Ross Ice Shelf.

As we fly further inland toward the South Pole, the cloud cover slowly abates revealing massive glaciers extruding out from between the mountains toward the sea. Somewhere

beneath us is Cape Adare, the famous landing and jumping off point for so many Antarctic missions of the early 20th Century. This is the domain of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen and we try – hopelessly – to imagine what it must have been like to haul sledges and packs over the murderous crevasses and treacherous icefields as these men fought the elements and their own wills in the quest for the South Pole.

We sit transfixed at our windows watching the rolling panorama beneath us. Some ogle the massive and unimaginable geological formations, others ponder the travails of these early explorers, while the rest dream and conjure shapes within the patterns of sea ice, like gigantic frosted water lilies on a pond that stretches to forever. A sea that many, including the multinational Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, believe should become a protected reserve.

Others, including New Zealand, want to expand commercial fishing into the region. Why? Because the huge, 500 million sq. km. Ross Sea basin contains one of the last relatively undisturbed, unpolluted and unexploited oceanic regions. Valuable toothfish populations and 95 other profitable species may extend under the vast permanent sheet hundreds of metres thick. At least 10 mammal species, half a dozen species of birds and over 1,000 invertebrate species also exist in the immediate area. In 2007, a monster 500kg squid was captured in the Ross Sea. Makes you wonder what else lurks in those mysterious depths.

In a fitting departure, we overfly several of the bases that dot the shore including the expansive McMurdo US base and its attendant airfield, scraped out on the ice with at least three C-130 Hercules and other aircraft ready for action. NZ’s Scott Base is nearby and rather insignificant by comparison. A telling reminder that, despite the isolation, man’s hand is poised to make another critical decision about the future of this highly sensitive and most beautiful part of our planet. ➜ www.antarcticaflights.com.au

Freecall 0800 000 766antarcticaflights.co.nz

It’s one minute to midnight on the last day of the year over the world’s last great wilderness. Although it’s the dead of night, the light dazzles bright as a star. You savour this moment to yourself, knowing you’re among the first people in the world to welcome the New Year.

Register your interest for our upcoming 2016 season.

Antarctica… it’s closer than you think.

Starting from AUD $1,199 per person in Economy Class Centre.

ANTARCTICA BY AIRThe Highest New Year’s Celebration in the World!

Join us from Melbourne New Years Eve 31 Dec 2015

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